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William Morten Tong (, born May 2, 1973) is an American lawyer and progressive politician who is the 25th and current Attorney General of Connecticut. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Tong attended Brown University and the University of Chicago Law School. He began his career as an attorney with the law firms Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Finn Dixon & Herling. In 2006, Tong entered politics upon winning election to the Connecticut House of Representatives to represent the 147th district, which includes most of North Stamford. He served six terms in the House from 2007 to 2019. During this period, Tong chaired the banking committee from 2011 to 2015 and the judiciary committee from 2015 to 2019.
In 2018, Tong was elected attorney general of Connecticut. He took office on January 9, 2019, as the first Asian Pacific-American attorney general and constitutional officer elected statewide in Connecticut's history.
Tong graduated from the elite boarding school, Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He received an undergraduate degree in classics with honors from Brown University in 1995. He earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School in 2000.
Tong won the first contested Democratic convention for attorney general on May 20, 2018, with 63.3% of the vote, defeating three other candidates. He went on to win the first contested Democratic primary for attorney general on August 14, beating two other candidates with 57.3% of the vote.
Tong defeated Republican nominee Sue Hatfield in the general election by 78,394 votes, 6% of the total. According to the attorney general's office, he became the first elected Asian-American statewide official in Connecticut upon taking office.
Tong is also on the national executive committee of attorneys general who are leading the investigation and litigation to confront the opioid crisis, including Connecticut’s case against Purdue Pharma.
Tong was a part of a small group of state attorneys general who led the investigation against Equifax relating to a massive data breach in which millions of Americans' personal and confidential information was compromised, including more than 1.5 million residents of Connecticut. Equifax eventually agreed to a $700 million settlement, including $425 million in direct consumer relief and close to $5 million to the State of Connecticut.
As a freshman legislator, Tong wrote and passed the Lost and Stolen Firearms law to fight gun trafficking. After the tragedy at Sandy Hook, he played an integral role in overhauling Connecticut's gun laws. He then wrote and passed Lori Jackson's Law, a domestic violence gun law that requires the subject of a temporary restraining order to surrender all firearms and ammunition for at least 14 days. In 2018, Tong wrote and passed the law banning bump stocks.
During his 12 years in the House, Tong wrote and passed several laws to reform the criminal justice system, including Connecticut’s Second Chance Society law, which overhauled Connecticut's Criminal Justice Information System by eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug possession crimes that have resulted in the mass incarceration of young people, particularly in Connecticut's cities.
Tong also helped write and pass legislation to protect homeowners in foreclosure in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and to hold teachers and school officials accountable for failing to report instances of abuse and sexual misconduct by teachers and administrators involving students.
The Tong campaign raised more than $550,000 in the quarter ending June 30, 2011. The final Federal Election Commission contribution tally was $1,063,993 for Team Tong.
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